As a van lifer who works from the street, having dependable web in my van is essential. A typical work day in my van would possibly embody Zoom calls with my van teaching purchasers, sending dozens of emails, updating my web site, and importing photographs to my weblog and movies to Instagram. These are data-heavy actions, and a sluggish web connection means glitchy video calls and a number of wasted time whereas I sit round ready for pages to load.
I’ve a Starlink for once I’m tenting in my van and out of cell vary, however the Starlink dish isn’t completely put in on the roof of my van. So except I’m parked someplace for an prolonged interval and take the time to arrange my Starlink, it implies that I’m most of the time utilizing my cellular phone as my major supply of web.
I’ve been a Verizon buyer for practically 20 years. When evaluating service whereas tenting with my van life buddies, it’s clear that Verizon has the most effective protection, particularly in distant areas across the US. Nonetheless, just a few years in the past, certainly one of my Bearfoot Concept contributors (Courtney Stephenson) switched to a service I’d by no means heard of: Seen. As a full-time van lifer who was working remotely (together with from down in Baja), Courtney was so pleased with the service that she wrote a Seen overview right here on the weblog.
This yr as my contract with Verizon was up, I made a decision to modify to Seen too. With Verizon, I used to be paying $115 a month, and now with Seen+, my plan is just $45 a month (or $395 for a complete yr when paid yearly). Switching to Seen was lots simpler than I anticipated, and I’m sooooo joyful to be saving practically $1,000 a yr on my cellphone invoice, particularly when the service is comparable.
Seen is definitely owned by Verizon and operates on Verizon’s 5G and 4G LTE networks. Aside from having the identical protection as Verizon, Seen additionally presents limitless knowledge, speak, textual content, and cellular hotspot utilization. It virtually appeared too good to be true, however I had nothing to lose giving Seen a strive. Seen requires no annual contract, so I knew if I didn’t prefer it as a lot as Courtney did, I might simply change again to Verizon or one other service.
I’ve been testing Seen for just a few months now – and I’m satisfied it’s the most effective cellular phone service in the marketplace for van lifers. It was so easy to modify over, billing is easy, and there are not any hidden taxes or charges. Additionally in evaluating my service to my companion Ryan’s (who continues to be with Verizon), I haven’t observed any distinction in velocity or protection, and I’ve executed velocity exams to show it.
On this up to date Seen overview, I break down Seen plan choices and pricing, the professionals and cons of Seen, and my private expertise utilizing Seen to work remotely on the street.
Sponsored by Seen
This weblog put up is sponsored by Seen. Seen plans begin as little as $25 a month, and if you wish to give Seen a strive with out committing, they’re providing Bearfoot Concept readers $10 off any Seen month-to-month plan for the primary 3 months. Use code MOOLAH for a restricted time to assert. As all the time, I solely advocate services and products I like and assume you’ll love too!
What Is Seen?
Seen is a low-cost cellular phone service that’s owned by Verizon and runs off of Verizon’s 5G/4G LTE community so anytime there may be Verizon protection, Seen also needs to have protection. Even for those who’re not a van lifer, Seen could possibly be a fantastic service choice for those who stay in an space with robust Verizon protection.
I discussed above that Ryan continues to be on Verizon. This has given us the chance to check Seen in opposition to Verizon each at dwelling and on a current street journey to Arizona. There hasn’t been wherever the place Ryan has had protection with Verizon that I didn’t have the identical variety of bars with Seen.
Seen has two easy plans – the Seen plan ($25/month) and the Seen+ plan ($45/month). Each plans provide limitless knowledge, speak, textual content, and cellular hotspot utilization. I’ll get into the small print and variations between the 2 plans beneath.
Seen is a pre-paid service that requires no credit score verify except you’re financing a brand new cellphone. There are not any required annual contracts or activation charges, so there’s larger flexibility than different cellphone corporations. Billing is dealt with via their app the place you’ll be able to simply arrange month-to-month auto-pay or handle your funds. You can too pay yearly for even larger financial savings.
Seen’s plans are designed for single-line customers as a substitute of households, and there are not any multi-line reductions. This makes it particularly good for solo van lifers and vacationers. Even with Ryan and I, if we each had the most costly Seen+ plan ($45/month), it could nonetheless be cheaper than if we had been on a household plan with one other service.
Seen Execs
Seen Cons
Seen Pricing and Plan Comparisons
There are at the moment two plans obtainable, Seen ($25/month) and Seen+ ($45/month). There are some apparent advantages of the Seen+ plan and a few key variations to think about when selecting a plan.
Seen vs Seen+
The most important variations between Seen vs Seen+ are:
I personally selected Seen+ as a result of excessive speeds are necessary to me, particularly once I’m working remotely, so my Seen overview is concentrated on the Seen+ plan. Even once I’m not engaged on the weblog, I depend on my cellphone for thus many issues. I exploit my cellphone to search out campsites, potable water, mountain climbing trails, instructions, grocery shops, and extra. To reduce my frustrations with day by day planning on my cellphone, I needed the quickest community obtainable.
What I like about Seen is that I’m not locked right into a plan and might change my service at any time. For instance, if there’s a stretch of time once I’m not touring, I can downgrade to the Seen plan with the clicking of a button, saving myself $20 a month. Or if I’m on the Seen plan and am headed to Baja or Canada, I can immediately improve to the Seen+ plan.
Plan Pricing and Comparability
Under is a breakdown of what every plan offers and the associated fee when paying month-to-month. You’ll be able to take a look at the small print of the two Seen plans on their web site. The ultimate worth is what you see right here. There are not any hidden taxes or charges tacked on to your invoice.
Seen Plan
$25/mo
inc. taxes and costs
Seen+
$45/mo
inc. taxes and costs
Paying Yearly
Just lately, Seen began providing the flexibility to pay yearly which comes with extra financial savings. When see the annual price in comparison with what you’d pay for a yr with one other service, it actually places it into perspective.
seen
$275/yr
seen +
$395/yr
My Expertise Switching to Seen
I used to be a bit nervous about switching from Verizon to Seen. It looks like each time I get a brand new cellphone, it’s all the time a trouble coping with my cellular phone supplier. I didn’t count on this expertise to be any totally different.
I used to be pleasantly shocked by how simple it was. All I needed to do was join on their web site, obtain the Seen app to my cellphone, come out my previous SIM card, and enter some info like my cellphone’s IMEI quantity (which may be present in your settings). The app walks you thru the step-by-step course of that basically was fairly simple to observe.
There have been a few occasions throughout the course of once I had questions, and I used to be capable of begin a web based chat. It took a minute to go from the bot assistant to getting an actual individual within the chat. After that, the individual stayed within the chat to stroll me via all the course of, ensuring my cellphone quantity was transferred correctly, and I used to be capable of obtain and ship texts and calls earlier than we mentioned goodbye.
One of many causes Seen is so cheap in comparison with different carriers is that they don’t have a cellphone quantity you’ll be able to name or brick-and-mortar shops. As an alternative, you can begin a web based chat with a Seen Rep any time of the day or week both on their web site or proper within the app.
One factor you’ll have to do earlier than you turn over is to ensure your cellphone is appropriate. You should use Seen’s compatibility checker to make sure your gadget is supported, and if it’s not, you will get a brand new cellphone via Seen. As well as, if you wish to deliver your present cellphone with you, you’ll want to ensure your cellphone is unlocked. You’ll be able to normally discover that information in your cellphone’s settings or you’ll be able to name your present supplier to search out out.
In the event you’re feeling skeptical, it’s also possible to strive Seen without spending a dime for 15 days. I did this to ensure I appreciated it earlier than making the change. Mainly, they set you up with a trial cellphone quantity that you should utilize to make calls, textual content, and browse cyberspace utilizing your current cellphone.
It doesn’t have an effect on your current service or cellphone quantity, and it was largely simple to arrange. It took about an hour, and I did want some help from the Seen Rep within the chat, but it surely made me really feel extra assured about switching and was additionally an opportunity to see what their customer support is like.
How Quick is Seen’s Knowledge?
The most important distinction between the Seen plan and the Seen+ plan is knowledge speeds. Here’s what you’ll be able to count on:
To see simply how briskly Seen+ is in apply, I ran a velocity check on my iPhone 12 Professional max with Seen+, in addition to on Ryan’s iPhone 13 Professional with Verizon. Listed here are the outcomes.
I ran the check a number of occasions on each telephones and bought fairly related outcomes each time. You’ll be able to see that the Verizon cellphone had barely larger obtain speeds, however the Seen+ cellphone had larger add speeds. General although, there isn’t an excessive amount of distinction in knowledge speeds between Verizon and Seen+.
The 306 Mbps obtain velocity on the Seen+ cellphone may be very quick. For a Zoom assembly at 1080p decision, you want 3.8 Mbps (add velocity) and three.0 Mbps (obtain velocity). For 720p decision, this requirement drops to 1.2 Mbps. For Netflix 1080p streaming (which is all you really want if you’re watching on an iPad), Netflix recommends a minimal of 5 Mbps obtain velocity.
I did this velocity check at my dwelling within the mountains exterior of Park Metropolis. Clearly in a extra distant space the place there isn’t a 5G community obtainable, knowledge speeds are going to be slower. The purpose of this velocity check although is to point out there there’s a negligible distinction in knowledge speeds between Verizon and Seen+.
Whereas on the Seen plan, BFT Contributor Courtney Stephenson reported that she hardly ever had any points with sluggish web speeds in areas with protection. In her unique Seen overview, she wrote, “When working web velocity exams from my cellphone, my obtain speeds with the Seen plan are sometimes 60Mbps or larger, typically even topping 100Mbps. With these speeds, I’m capable of browse the web, stream Netflix, and use my cellphone with out lag or a lot thought in any respect about knowledge speeds.”
Courtney added, “I’ve solely observed slower service twice – as soon as at a music competition in San Francisco and as soon as having no cell reception within the small city of Stanley, Idaho whereas my buddies with Verizon had a sluggish connection. I chalked this as much as the city itself having tremendous spotty protection, and so far, that’s the one time I’ve ever not had any reception when Verizon prospects had sign.”
Seen Cellular Hotspot
What units Seen aside from different carriers is its limitless cellular hotspot. Utilizing a cellphone as a hotspot is a quite common method for van lifers to get web on the street, but it surely’s fairly unusual to have a plan that gives really limitless cellular hotspot knowledge utilization. Most different carriers will cap knowledge utilization and severely decelerate your web speeds when you’ve hit your knowledge restrict for the month, making your hotspot unreliable and unusable when you’ve hit the cap.
As an alternative of capping knowledge allowance, Seen caps your knowledge speeds. Utilizing your cellphone as a hotspot, the Seen plan presents limitless knowledge at 5 Mbps and 10 Mbps on the Seen+ plan. This implies you’ll all the time be capable to use your cellphone as a dependable hotspot, irrespective of how a lot knowledge you’ve used every month.
For the typical individual, this shouldn’t trigger many points. Courtney used Seen’s cellular hotspot as her major web supply for engaged on the street for two+ years with no complaints. She was capable of do all of her pc work with no points and be part of our BFT workforce video calls with minimal to no disruption.
I additionally used my Seen+ plan as a hotspot whereas in Arizona not too long ago and located it greater than enough for primary duties. I used to be capable of write my weekly e-newsletter, add photographs, and make some updates on my web site with none frustrations.
Nonetheless, if you’re somebody who steadily downloads/uploads giant recordsdata, is on video calls all day, or requires extremely quick web speeds, chances are you’ll discover 5-10 Mbps hotspot speeds limiting. Nonetheless this may be the case whether or not it’s Seen, Verizon, T-mobile, or another cellular phone supplier. On days once I have to do data-heavy work (like importing a YouTube video), I’ll both arrange my Starlink or I’ll head to the closest city with a espresso store or library.
Seen Worldwide Service
If you wish to go to Mexico or Canada in your van, you’ll want the Seen+ plan because the Seen plan doesn’t embody any worldwide service. On the Seen+ plan, you get limitless speak, textual content, and roaming in Mexico and Canada (in addition to Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands).
This lets you make native calls or to name again to the US or various different nations. It additionally consists of 2 GB of high-speed knowledge per day. After you utilize the two GB, speeds are diminished to 3G, which if I’m being trustworthy is frustratingly sluggish.
To be able to make the two GB final, you’ll wish to go to your settings and switch off “background app refresh” for all your apps. That method apps like Instagram and Fb aren’t refreshing within the background losing your knowledge. You can too flip off mobile knowledge for all your apps that you simply aren’t utilizing usually (like Zillow, Amazon, or no matter they might be), so these apps received’t work except you’re on wi-fi.
Whereas I haven’t gone to Mexico in my van, BFT Contributor Courtney made an annual van life journey to the Baja Peninsula each winter. She relied on the Seen+ plan to keep up a correspondence with folks within the States, in addition to to work remotely.
Courtney upgraded her plan to Seen+ proper earlier than crossing the border. The improve took lower than 10 minutes and could possibly be executed proper within the Seen app with none help. The change passed off instantly, and he or she didn’t have to attend for one more billing cycle.
After utilizing Seen+ in Baja for a complete winter, in her Seen overview she reported, “I’ve been actually impressed with Seen’s service down right here. In areas with cell protection, I’ve been capable of name and textual content household and buddies again within the US as regular and use my cellphone minimally for Google Maps, social media, and light-weight web looking. The speeds are quickest within the morning and decelerate over the course of the day, as knowledge utilization is capped at 2 GB a day and slows down considerably after that. So long as you handle your expectations (you’re not going to see the identical web speeds roaming in Mexico as within the US), it’s a fantastic perk and the service is similar to different main carriers’ worldwide companies.”
Now, there are limitations to Seen’s worldwide capabilities – most notably that worldwide speak, textual content, and knowledge are restricted to Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands, except you buy a World Cross which works in over 140 nations.
Seen+ Members get 1 free World Cross monthly. In any other case, the World Cross is $5/day in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Virigin Islands or $10/day for protection in over 140 nations. World Cross consists of limitless speak and textual content and a pair of GB of high-speed knowledge per day earlier than it’s diminished to 3G speeds.
In the event you’re solely touring for per week, that’s high-quality, however if you’re going overseas for any prolonged time period and counting on World Cross, $10/day can actually add up. Alternatively, when you have Seen and your cellphone is unlocked, you should purchase a pay as you go native SIM card within the nation you might be touring wherein is mostly cheaper than paying for worldwide service on any service.
Conclusion
General, I’ve been tremendous pleased with Seen+. I truthfully can’t imagine how less expensive it’s than the competitors whereas offering a majority of the identical advantages. It’s a lot quick, I don’t have to fret about any additional charges or fees, and it’s month to month, so there isn’t any long-term dedication.
Regardless of having no customer support quantity, within the few on-line chats I’ve had throughout the sign-up course of, I’ve discovered the customer support brokers to be useful, responsive, and genuinely interested by discovering options.
The limitless cellular hotspot knowledge is a big perk, and since a lot of the journey I’m doing proper now could be home I’m not too frightened by the dearth of worldwide protection. I’m hopeful that Seen will broaden its worldwide roaming protection sooner or later, and the truth that it’s month-to-month means I can all the time change to a different service if want be.
In the event you’re interested by giving Seen a whirl, bear in mind you will get $10 off any Seen month-to-month plan for the primary 3 months. Use code MOOLAH throughout check-out.
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Have you ever heard of Seen or have you ever tried it? I’d love to listen to about your expertise within the feedback.